Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of acronyms and abbreviations
- Introduction. From East–West to North–South: US intervention in the “new world order”
- 1 From “straight power concepts” to “persuasion” in US foreign policy
- 2 Political operations in US foreign policy
- 3 The Philippines: “Molded in the image of American democracy”
- 4 Chile: Ironing out “a fluke of the political system”
- 5 Nicaragua: From low-intensity warfare to low-intensity democracy
- 6 Haiti: The “practically insolvable problem” of establishing consensual domination
- 7 Conclusions: The future of polyarchy and global society
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
5 - Nicaragua: From low-intensity warfare to low-intensity democracy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 July 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- List of acronyms and abbreviations
- Introduction. From East–West to North–South: US intervention in the “new world order”
- 1 From “straight power concepts” to “persuasion” in US foreign policy
- 2 Political operations in US foreign policy
- 3 The Philippines: “Molded in the image of American democracy”
- 4 Chile: Ironing out “a fluke of the political system”
- 5 Nicaragua: From low-intensity warfare to low-intensity democracy
- 6 Haiti: The “practically insolvable problem” of establishing consensual domination
- 7 Conclusions: The future of polyarchy and global society
- Notes
- Select bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Summary
Preventive diplomacy and preemptive reform can reduce the risks of extremist political infection and radical contamination. When confronted with such situations, the United States must define its interests early on and then develop strategies in cooperation with regional friends that will promote the likelihood of peaceful change and successor governments compatible with our own.
Henry Kissinger and Cyrus VanceWashington believes that Nicaragua must serve as a warning to the rest of Central America to never again challenge US hegemony, because of the enormous economic and political costs. It's too bad that the [Nicaraguan] poor must suffer, but historically the poor have always suffered. Nicaragua must be a lesson to others.
Richard John NeuhausPreventative diplomacy and preemptive reform
In May 1989, on the eve of the opening of the Nicaraguan electoral process, one of President Bush's national security advisors observed: “Since Manila, the United States has gotten into this; we have been brandishing this new tool of giving support to electoral processes. The Plebiscite in Chile was analogous, where we saw we could shake an entrenched regime by [getting involved in] elections… We are learning these techniques, and they should be applied to Nicaragua.”
In the Philippines and Chile, the United States applied “preventive diplomacy and preemptive reform” as part of shifts in policy to “democracy promotion.” The shift and the concomitant introduction of new forms of political intervention came precisely when society-wide anti-dictatorial movements were reaching a critical mass under the leadership of popular forces.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Promoting PolyarchyGlobalization, US Intervention, and Hegemony, pp. 201 - 255Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1996